March 4, 2025

From Law to Lights: Nico Wan's Journey

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What if you traded a prestigious law career for the spotlight? That's the journey of Nico Wan, who left his role as a private equity lawyer to emerge as a talented actor in the Netflix show "The Recruit." In this fascinating episode, we dive deep into Nico's story, exploring his transformational leap from the structured world of law into the unpredictable realm of acting.

Nico shares candid insights on how societal expectations shaped his career path and the turning points that led him to rediscover his passion for storytelling. He discusses the intricacies of his character Jimin in "The Recruit," revealing how his experiences reflected broader themes of identity and resilience. The conversation touches on the significance of having mentors, the ups and downs of auditioning, and the allure of artistic expressions that truly resonate.

Additionally, he hints at exciting upcoming projects, showcasing his commitment to sharing diverse narratives that illuminate the Asian American experience. With wisdom and warmth, Nico offers advice for anyone contemplating a career in the arts, emphasizing the importance of introspection and staying true to oneself.

This episode is not just for aspiring actors; it's a conversation about courage, creativity, and the pursuit of authentic passions. Dive into Nico's inspirational journey with us, and if you’re intrigued by personal stories of transformation and art, remember to subscribe, share your thoughts, and embrace the dream of living authentically.

Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600

00:42 - Introduction to the Living the Dream Podcast

40:14 - Nico Wan: From Lawyer to Actor

09:39:16 - Upcoming Projects and Career Advice

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Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with Curveball, if you believe you can achieve.

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Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball Podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate and inspire.

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Today, we're going to be talking about the movie the Recruit, which came out on Netflix January 30th 2025.

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And I am joined by one of the actors in the movie, nico Won.

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Nico is a gangster.

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He plays a gangster in the movie Moonlighting as a part of the Korean intelligence, playing both sides of the law.

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So we're going to be talking to him about the movie and also about his career and how he got into acting.

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So, nico, thank you so much for joining me today.

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Thanks for having me.

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Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?

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For sure.

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So my name is Nico Wan.

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I'm an actor now.

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I used to be a private equity and venture capital lawyer that very recently made the transition into entertainment, in acting, and it's been a really great experience.

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My first job was the show the Recruit.

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I was so lucky to be able to work with Tao Yu and Noah Centineo, in addition to our showrunner, alexi, and all the producers and cast and crew both from Korea and in Canada, so it's just been a really lovely experience to be on the second season and I'm really grateful for it.

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Well, how did you get into acting in the first place?

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You talked about how you transitioned from a lawyer to an actor.

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Yeah, I was kind of feeling very stuck in my career as an attorney.

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I am a child of Asian immigrant parents, I'm also an only child, and so really we had that classic pathway of being a minority, of being, hey, you must be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, et cetera, et cetera.

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And I was a pre-med student, realized that I couldn't be a doctor, like I was just volunteering at these hospitals and the emotional aspect of it was much too much.

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And then I had, you know, gone into law eventually and in kind of the sphere of law as a career.

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The traditional, traditional kind of you know minted path I would say, as we're laid out to have, is to go to a good law school, go to a suits or suits LA type style law firm and then go in house and that typically takes around three to five years.

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And I was able to kind of do that on the shorter end of time and I'd kind of gotten to this process and place in my life where I thought, oh man, I've made it Like I made it out even earlier than I thought I would, I'm so happy and I was exploring life.

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And then I realized, hey, is this it Like I wasn't really happy in my job.

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I didn't really want to climb the corporate ladder so I kind of to be in all fairness just took a little reset and started exploring hobbies again.

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I had no hobbies beside going out with my friends and working effectively, and I took some time to be like taking singing lessons and, you know, pottery making and acting was what stuck and eventually I realized how much I enjoyed the storytelling process of things and I thought better late than never.

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Conveniently to, we had new management come into my old company and it just created a really big cultural shift and that in itself felt like, you know, you know, a sign from the universe to be hey, you should really try and pursue this if you're interested in it.

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And I kind of just jumped in and it's been a really amazing journey ever since.

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Okay, well, talk to the listeners about the Recruit you know.

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Explain to them about.

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You know what the show is and what it's about and your role in it.

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CIA espionage show.

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It really follows Noah Centineo who plays Owen Hendricks.

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He is a lawyer, surprisingly enough, and a lawyer who joins the CIA and goes through this really immense kind of super international espionage kind of thing, tricks, and I would say tricks and adventure.

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And the second season takes us to South Korea where Owen meets up with Changkyun who is a Korean intelligence officer for the, played by Tae-oh Yoo, and so a lot of the part in the espionage this season takes place in South Korea.

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I play a character called Jimin.

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Jimin is a gangster informant for the Korean National Intelligence Service and I kind of I mean Jimin essentially kind of plays both sides by helping Changyoon and the NIS and then also plays against, playing an important role of providing certain specific information.

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Effectively, G-Man himself kind of gets into a lot of trouble, gets beat up a lot and has to learn his lessons the hard and fatal way, I would say.

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Okay, well, I know the recruit is in season two, so did you play in season one?

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No, no.

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Well, my character is based in South Korea and the storyline this year for season two takes place primarily in South Korea, so I was only in this part for the for the season.

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Okay, gotcha and and and, both seasons on Netflix, right, correct, yes, okay.

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Well, talk about some of your biggest influences.

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Who?

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who influenced you to do what you do as far as acting, I would say like, for me, I'm still still so new, so I think that I'm constantly kind of looking towards mentors, teo being one of them.

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I was so grateful to be able to work with him directly after I left my job.

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I had essentially left my job and then went on a vacation and then came back and booked this job and on the recruit and was kind of essentially face to face with someone who I really admired.

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I admired his work from past lives and it felt like a very surreal moment, I would say, in terms of just taking the leap to going into acting.

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I don't know if it's cliche or not, but I am like, really thankful and I look forward to my mother a lot.

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My mother was a fashion designer and an artist, and so seeing her and live her life and be creative really was inspirational to me to be able to say I could also do that, in spite of this kind of conflict, of course, of parent and child wanting the child to have a secure, stable career.

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I kind of looked to my mother as someone who was like hey, you took the leap, you went into, you know, a difficult industry to be in.

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I can do the same too, and so that's really someone who I look to.

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Well, kind of talk to the listeners about your job before an actor as a lawyer you know, kind of explain what you did at that job.

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Yeah for sure.

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So I was a private equity venture capital lawyer.

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I spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley working with startups from pre-seed ideation to really public companies that have gone already IPO, precede ideation to really public companies that have gone already IPO, and I would take them through the financing stages, acting, you know, at a younger stage, really as general counsel and business business strategists.

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I would edit their pitch decks in addition to general corporate work and then obviously, as we went up higher and they had more funding and more stable as an organization, really just acting as their counsel that they would refer to.

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And then on the private equity end, I would work with private equity companies to help invest in companies like startups that they wanted to be a part of.

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I was really interested in kind of startup mentality and culture and stories and that's kind of how I realized I really loved storytelling.

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But after kind of working at one of those large law firms, I moved to go to a financial services company in-house where I really managed internationally our private markets investments from both the alternative investment end and direct investments and kind of help set up the system there on that end.

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Well, tell us about any upcoming projects that you're working on that listeners need to be aware of.

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Yeah, for sure.

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So I can't disclose anything formally right now.

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Uh, we're talking internally with a bunch of work that we're kind of trying to finalize.

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But, uh, I am working on developing a film right now.

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We I wrote it.

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It's essentially, uh, a modernized version uh of harold and kumar with two chinese guys trying to find a vintage record.

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Um, we're really excited about it and we're going through the process.

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Okay, Well, so everybody can keep up with everything that you're up to.

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Throw out your contact info.

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For sure you can find me on Instagram.

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It's NicholasTheJuan N-I-C-O-L-A-S-T-H-E-W-A-N.

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Okay, what advice would you give someone you know looking to get into a career of acting?

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I think really just have fun with it.

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I would say really, for me at least, having gone through the process, I would say really look internally about why you want to do this.

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Yes, it's fun, it is a grueling career, things can happen all of a sudden.

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It's very chaotic.

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And to kind of accept that, going in, accepting a lot of rejection, going in and accepting that you'll learn more about yourself and that it's really a test of time, but more than anything else, I would say to take a lot of time to reflect on why you want to be an actor or why you want to be in the entertainment industry, because I think that once you solidify that reasoning, it will make your path so much more enjoyable through the great times, but more so even through the hard times.

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We'll close this out with some final thoughts.

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Maybe, if that was something I forgot to talk about, that you would like to touch on, or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.

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I don't have anything on my end, I just you know.

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I hope that people really enjoy watching the Recruit Season 2.

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I'm really grateful to be a part of the project.

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I have such amazing colleagues that work there and mentors, and then, with respect to acting, just have fun, learn, take a chance and sometimes take the leap.

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Do you know if there are going to be any more seasons coming out of the Recruit and are you going to be playing a role in those seasons?

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We're currently waiting for Netflix to give us the green light as of this moment in time, so I'm not too sure.

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I can't really answer that, but fingers crossed.

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Okay, well, listeners, I can definitely tell you I checked out the Recruit Season 2.

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It's definitely great.

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You guys should check out Season 2 as well as Season 1.

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And if any other seasons come out, check it out.

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Audio description is available for people who are blind and visually impaired, like myself.

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You guys share this episode to as many people as possible.

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Follow rate review, jump on your favorite podcast app, check out the show.

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If you have any guests or suggestion topics, curtis Jackson 1978 at attnet is the place to send them.

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Thank you for listening and supporting the show.

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This all would not happen without you, nico, thank you for all that you do, great movie, and thank you for joining us.

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Thank you so much for your time.

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For more information on the Living the Dream podcast, visit wwwdjcurveballcom.

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Until next time, stay focused on living the dream.